(Post)colonial Cinema, Film and Nation, Mar. 31, 2016
For this wiki post, please choose 3 of the following 6 terms and write a short definition for each. # colonialism # postcolonialism # postcolonial counter-cinema # positive images (see Stam and Spence, see Shaft) # imagined community # national cinema (see Harcourt, see Higson) ------------------------------ Maxwell Koyama 'Colonialism: '''A political policy that centres around the invasion of other countries by an imperial power, and usually involves the political oppression of the colonized subject and the destruction of their culture, as well as the exploitation of the colonized region’s resources, including its people, for the benefit of the colonizing nation. These colonial subjects are usually assimilated into the culture of the colonists. '''Postcolonialism: '''A movement– particularly within the arts– that is concerned with resisting ideology and value systems instilled in colonial subjects by imperial rule. Postcolonialism typically emphasizes the rejection of the subaltern ''identity that valourizes the colonist and his culture while it imagines the native colonial subject and his culture to be inferior. The movement is also focused on the issue of resistance against colonial oppression of colonial subjects in a literal, political sense, and a cultural one. '''Postcolonial counter-cinema: '''A cinema concerned with questioning and opposing both the overtly colonialist ideologues of dominant cinema and the subtle colonial perspectives expressed in its supposedly– but not actually– “neutral” conventional methods of communication. Its deviations from the form of dominant cinema serve to counter the racist and colonialist biases inlaid into standard cinematic conventions. Like radical (i.e. marxist) and feminist counter-cinemas, postcolonial cinema is interesting in crafting a practice of formally resistant filmmaking that embodies anti-colonial or non-colonial values while rejecting those instilled by colonialism. ------------------------------ Francisco Kim Colonialism is when one nation/territory/political power establishes and maintains control over another territory. Typically it is used to reference past European domination of other territories, and their subsequent ‘cultural domination’ over them. Imagined community is the means by which a nation imagines or views itself, and films are integral to constructing that idea. Through films, the ‘identity’ of communities are represented and reinforced by members of that community. National cinema is often that which resists Hollywood cinema, and asserts the identity and meaning of a nation through film. While Higson struggles to find a concrete definition, the central idea of national cinema revolves around the elements important to a nation, whether they be means of production, use of language, or cultural elements, which is present within a film. ------------------------------ Hunter Scharfe Colonialism: a political ideology where an oppressing nation establishes dominance over another nation or region through forceful political manipulation, territorial takeover and cultural genocide. The colonizing nation usually exploits human and natural resources for their own benefit at the expense of the colonized nation. Post-Colonialism: as a historical term, it is defined as a time period after the reign of colonialism, where people from colonized nations need to adjust to the change in life style and culture after being colonized. In literature, it is a concept that relates the relationship between the colonizer and the colonized. Characters in these literary works from colonized nations must face the political, economic and emotional effects that were left behind after the oppressing nations left. Imagined Community: the way in which nations perceive themselves from their own perspective. According to the term’s founder, Benedict Anderson, nations are socially constructed communities that are created by people’s vision of their own position within this community. Films influence this concept by giving people a way to depict either their own view of the nations’ community, or how one person or themselves fit into this national identity. ------------------------------ Wang Jin Colonialism: The policy or practice of acquiring full or partial political control over another country, occupying it with settlers, and exploiting it economically. Post colonialism: Post-colonialism is an intellectual era that exists since around the middle of the 20th century. It developed from and mainly refers to the time after colonialism. The post-colonial direction was created as colonial countries became independent. Nowadays, aspects of post-colonialism can be found not only in sciences concerning history, literature and politics, but also in approach to culture and identity of both the countries that were colonised and the former colonial powers. However, post-colonialism can take the colonial time as well as the time after colonialism into consideration. Imagined community: Benedict Anderson defines the nation as an "imagined political community", that imagined because the members of the smallest nation will never know most of their fellow-members, meet them or even hear of them, yet in the minds of each lives the image of their communion. A nation exists when a significant number of people in a community consider themselves. In other words imagine themselves as to form a nation, or behave as if they formed one. ------------------------------ Christine Cameron Colonialism- A takeover of another, more “inferior” country by a political power that dominates by use of force. This involves subjecting the newly colonized country to new laws, new cultures, and a decimation of its natural resources for use by the conquerors at their own discretion. Postcolonialism- A resistance of the new political ideals by the colonized natives while they have not choice but to remain dependent on the new political power since that power controls the wealth and resources available for survival. Positive Images- Images designed to subvert racist sentimentality in cinema, however, in their efforts, they sometimes manage to portray the same racist attitude that they’re trying to suppress. ------------------------------ Kelc Noble: Post Colonialism: can be seen as a historical term. Which examines the ways in which colonial conceptions of the world can be or are portrayed in different media texts. It is referring to the time after colonialism. Colonialism: is the social, political, and economical formation. It deals with the European powers taking control of many different territories. They invade and dominate different cultures. Imagined community: is a coined by Benedict Anderson. He states that the nation is a socially constructed community, and it is imagined by the people who consider themselves to be apart of that nation . ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------ ------------------------------